Easier to Lie
by Tayst Strange
Summary: Ever since FTi, Helga and Arnold have not been the same. She has been meaner than ever. He's ignored her completely. What happens at the final confrontation? Songfic.


_**To bear the weight  
**__**And push into the sky  
**__**It's easier to lie  
**__**It's easier to lie  
**__**And honestly  
**__**To look you in the eye  
**__**It's easier to lie  
**__**It's easier to lie  
**_**-------------------  
**Helga stood on the bridge, holding her golden locket in both hands and breathing deeply as she stared intently at the water beneath her. She had been like this for an hour, every now and then, blinking back the tears that threatened to brim her eyes. 'Arnold, my love,' she thought, 'what have I done?'

Reflecting in the water was the early Summer morning sky; pale, pink, and serene. Another soft, slow breath escaped her lips and despite the season, she shivered.

'Ever since my confession, things have gone wrong. I fear my bold expression of love has caused us to clash.' The mirrored image of Helga's face in the water was sad and tired. Out of pure wish, she half expected Arnold's reflection to show up next hers, smiling with reasurance that everything would be alright. She closed her eyes and mind away from the image, knowing better.

'I should've kept secret. When my disguise failed and you demanded my meaning, I should've bluffed. Better yet, I should've replied with silence. Instead, I nervously rambled about my love and passion for you. Then the kiss... the kiss... my momentary stupor.' Helga let out another sigh. She turned around and leaned her back against the side of the bridge, slowly sliding down. When she finally sat, she pulled her legs to her chest and hugged them, the locket still clutched in her right hand. 'Stupor is the only right word for it, because every since my dazed mistake, we've drifted apart. We silently agreed to pretend the moment never happened, but now we even avoid eachother. Several times in the past week I've noticed you look at me, only to turn away.'

Opening her eyes again, she looked at the picture of Arnold inside her locket. 'Each time you did, I needed to tell you that I wanted to move on and go forward, even if only as close friends. Instead, I turned the gentlest look into a screaming fit, trying to hide my feelings, trying to pretend my confession never happened.' Helga sighed deeply and stood up, nearly ready to go home.

'Too bad it's easier to lie'  
**-----------------------------  
**_**To be the one**  
__**To be the only one  
**__**Something has to give a lot  
**__**Something has to give a lot  
**__**And who am I  
**__**To give you what you need  
**__**When I'm learning  
**__**Just learning  
Learning how to live and  
**__**To bear the weight  
**__**And push into the sky  
It's easier to lie  
It's easier to lie  
**__**And honestly  
**__**To look you in the eye  
**__**It's easier to lie  
**__**It's easier to lie  
**_------------------  
Arnold looked over Hillwood from his rooftop. He closed his eyes, feeling the early Sun's warmth at his back and a strange Summer wind blow through his unruly, blonde hair. He sighed deeply, trying to calm his nerves. He saved this very neighborhood exactly one week ago, yet he could not for the life of him figure out how to save the relationship he and Helga had. Even if it was a strange and sometimes bitter friendship, there would always be the rare moments where it went deeper than any normal connection between friends could. 'If only I'd known how deep.'

Helga's outburst had been both surreal and awkward. She scarcely gave affection, trapping it inside of herself, where it grew to a dangerous caliber. To be the one to hold her love... to be the only one... meant a lot of effort and emotion. He could bear the fate of an entire neighborhood in his hands. He could not, however, make himself strong enough to bear the weight of Helga's heart.

So when the time of confrontation made itself visible in her eyes, he did the only thing he could: pretend it never happened. _"We just got caught up in the heat of the moment..."_

It was easier to lie.

Now the kindness she seldom shared with Arnold was being denied as well.

Arnold opened his eyes and looked to the sky. Once pink and shy, it was now turning into a dull blue-ish grey. He let out one last, long sigh before turning to the fire escape. He was going for a walk.  
--------------------  
_**To fill the space  
**__**The space you made for me  
**__**I try to be the one you want  
**__**I try to be the one you want  
**__**And maybe I  
**__**Could be the one you need  
**__**If you'd only  
**__**Show me  
**__**Show me how to live and  
**__**To bear the weight  
**__**And push into the sky  
**__**It's easier to lie  
**__**Easier to lie  
**_---------------  
'You gave me the opporturnity to change. I tried be who you wanted me to be, but I failed. I could've been the one you needed to get by. You could've shown me how to finally be happy. Now, everything has gone wrong, but this is it. The end of all the tension.' Helga thought as she held her locket over the side of the bridge. 'The end of us.'

Arnold saw her from the distance and walked closer, hoping for a bit of truth to be extracted from underneathe all the lies. When he reached a few feet away from the girl he was secretly fearing, he yelled, "Why?" over the sound of rushing water.

Helga turned her eyes to Arnold. The peaceful creek below her changed into a raging river and as it did, her face also shifted from sorrow into anger. "Because you don't love me, Football Head. My only faith was in you and now that it is being washed away, I will go with it."

"But why have we been doing this to eachother? You've been trying to hide behind hate and I just ignored it. Why can't we find the right thing to do? Why can't we just acknowledge the truth and move on?"

Helga's face remained in anger, but her lip quivered when she spoke, "It's easier to lie." Her fingers let go of the locket and it fell into the deep depths of the murky water, lost forever.

Thunder now roared angrily above and Arnold looked to the sky. Black storm clouds swirled and heavy rain instantly poured down, showing no intentions of ending soon. He looked back to Helga, instantly knowing something was wrong. As each drop crashed against her pale skin, she not only dampened, but was eroding before Arnold's eyes. It was as if her very words were becoming literal. Her faith inside that golden heart had plunged to the river and she was washing away with it.

"Helga!" Arnold screamed, but as he reached out the grab her, she turned to liquid in his hands and spilled between his fingers. He dropped to his knees and ran his hands along the wooden bridge floor as if he could find her in the water drops, but she had already slipped through the boards, into the river below, and he was too late. She was gone. She would never come back.

Arnold could swear he heard Helga's voice in the wind, calling him, _"Hey, Aaaarnooold"  
_----------------------  
_**And do what's right  
**__**When everything is wrong  
**__**It's easier to run  
**__**It's easier to  
**__**Never have  
**__**To look you in the eye  
**__**It's easier to lie  
**__**It's easier to lie  
**__**To bear the weight  
**__**And push into the sky  
**__**It's easier to lie**_

**_(Easier to Lie - Aqualung)_**


End file.
